


Science and Laughter

by Bunny7033



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-11 00:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3308699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunny7033/pseuds/Bunny7033
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on tumblr at url calmturquoise.</p></blockquote>





	Science and Laughter

“Bruce!”  
  
The lab was silent save for the sound of an empty coffee mug scraping across a tabletop as Bruce Banner made room for his microscope, ignoring the call in favor of his work.  
  
“Bruuuuuuuuce!”  
  
The only reply was more silence; Bruce took a moment to breathe deeply, roll his eyes in a particularly annoyed fashion, and remind himself that yes, there were benefits to working with Tony Stark, even though he could on occasion be rather annoying.  
  
“Bruce! Brucey!”  
  
On second thought, he was almost always very annoying. Which Bruce could deal with. Usually.  
  
A pair of hands clapped down suddenly on Bruce’s shoulders. “Hey big guy, how’s it going? Didn’t you hear me calling? What are you working on? Why aren’t you answering me?” Despite his annoyance which was rapidly fading due to his impressive anger-management skills - at least they were good for something - Bruce couldn’t help his lips from twitching upward before he schooled his expression back into a blank mask.  
  
“That’s a lot of questions Tony,” he replied, pushing aside his microscope in order to grab the tablet that was sitting behind it. Tony leaned into Bruce, his head nuzzled into the crook of Bruce’s neck. Having long ago accepted Tony’s complete lack of personal boundaries, Bruce ignored the other man and set about typing data into one of his apps for later use. A soft whine came from his lab partner, who climbed up on his tiptops and leaned around Bruce’s shoulder, shoving his face in front of the tablet and forcing Bruce to look up.  
  
The two stared at each other.  
  
“You’re blocking my view,” Bruce pointed out. “You’re also kind of on top of me.”  
  
Tony grinned. “You’ve got to come check out what I’ve done with the suit! I had this great idea the other day for improving the thruster capacities…” Bruce’s shoulder was starting to ache from where Tony was leaning nearly his entire body against it. All he really wanted was to finish what he was working on, though unfortunately for him that was apparently the exact opposite of what Tony wanted. “… working at 25% higher capability!”  
  
Bruce blinked. “Uh, great.”  
  
With a groan Tony pushed himself off of Bruce, giving the physicist only a moment of relief before his chair was spun around so that he was facing Tony, their noses only inches away. “You weren’t listening to me at all,” Tony said, looking - almost convincingly - heartbroken.  
  
“You’re pouting,” Bruce said, unable to think of a better reply considering that he really hadn’t been listen to Tony.  
  
“I’m not pouting!” the other man protested. He glared at Bruce. “Come see the suit.”  
  
Bruce glanced back at his tablet and microscope out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t know Tony. Maybe later? I’d really like to finish this first.” He wrenched himself away from Tony’s grasp and flipped the chair around before Tony could start _really_ pouting at him; which wouldn’t make Bruce change his mind, of course, but it would make him feel guilty. Slightly.  
  
A loud, irritated huff came from behind him. Bruce rolled his eyes once more and pushed his glasses up onto his nose. He was fairly certain that if he ignored the whiny engineer hovering over him, he would eventually go away. So, Bruce set to work finishing recording his data. He had typed in a few more characters when Tony, who Bruce had been successfully ignoring, came up behind the scientist and gave his side a quick squeeze.  
  
“Hey!” Bruce exclaimed, rubbing his side.   
  
He turned around and saw that Tony was smirking. “Ticklish, Doctor Banner?” the billionaire asked, his eyes traveling down to stare at Bruce’s midsection.  
  
“No,” Bruce said shortly. He turned back to the table, aware that he had replied a little too quickly. He actually was ticklish; or at least, he had been before the Hulk. Since the Other Guy showed up, no one had really been inclined to touch him, resulting in a lack of tickling on his part. However, although the Other Guy might have had the ability to keep Bruce from getting hurt or injured, or even hurting himself, Bruce doubted that protection extended to tickling. He shifted uneasily, hyperaware of Tony’s presence behind him. “Something else that you need, Tony?”  
  
He could hear the grin in the other man’s voice as Tony said, “Oh, nothing really. Just for you to come see my suit.”  
  
Bruce barely refrained from twitching. “Not _now_ Tony.”  
  
“Well, in that case…”   
  
There was a sudden flurry of fingers attacking both of Bruce’s sides from behind. Bruce jolted, squirming slightly to avoid the offending appendages. “Tony!”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Stop! Tohony-” Bruce stood with the intent of running away. Tony was a step ahead of him; he pulled the curly-haired man to the ground and straddled his waist. Tony pinned Bruce’s wrists together above his head and the physicist wryly reflected on the irony that he could turn into, as Tony called it, an enormous green-rage monster, yet he was unable to prevent the other man from pinning him down by simply sitting on him. Although Tony probably did work out, whereas Bruce spent more time meditating and working in the lab. But, he was getting off topic.  
  
“T-Tony, stop!” Bruce hissed through clenched teeth, barely managing to hold in his laughter as a handfull of fingers wiggled lightly over his side. Tony leaned in with a wicked smirk.  
  
“Don’t be such a buzzkill Brucey,” he said cheerfully. “You need to let go more!” With that Tony’s fingers crept under Bruce’s shirt and spidered across his lower stomach. Unable to help himself, a stream of laughter began to pour from the doctor’s mouth.  
  
“Noohohohohohohohoh! Tohohohohny!”  
  
“You liar. Who knew you were so ticklish? You’ve been holding out on me.” Tony pushed the hem of Bruce’s shirt up higher and squiggled his fingers over the sensitive bare skin of Bruce’s stomach.  
  
Bruce writhed desperately, trying and failing to pull his wrists away from Tony’s grasp. “Stahahaha, lehehehet me gohoho! Tohohohohony! Staahahahahaha-” Bruce’s eyes widened as Tony’s hand crawled down from his ribs to rest on his stomach with a finger circling the rim of his belly button. “Nohohohoh, plehehehehease! Not thehehehere, Tohohony, stohohohohop!”  
  
“Are you sure?” Tony grinned. “It sounds like you’re telling me that _this_ spot,” he quickly poked the bottom of Bruce’s innie, eliciting a startled laugh from the physicist, “is particularly sensitive.”  
  
“StahahahahAHAHAHAHAHA! NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Bruce burst into full-blown laughter as Tony’s index finger dipped inside his belly button.  
  
Tony smirked. “Aha! Looks like I found your sweet spot. Tickle tickle tickle!”  
  
“NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, STAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHAHAHAHAP, TOHOHOHOHONY PLEHEHEHEHEHEHEASE!” Tony was clearly enjoying himself as he swirled his finger around and around inside Bruce’s belly button. Yet to Bruce’s relief he stopped tickling the doctor after a few minutes, allowing Bruce to catch his breath.  
  
“Well that was fun,” Tony commented lazily, watching Bruce recover with a twinkle in his eye.  
  
“Maybe for you,” Bruce gasped breathlessly. “Would you let me go now?” Tony still had Bruce’s arms pinned above his head, and Bruce was quite frankly too weak from laughter to free himself.  
  
“Hmmmmm… sure,” Tony replied with an air of generosity, smirking as he got up off the downed scientist and stood, before lending a hand to help Bruce to his feet. “I’m thinking this should be a regular thing from now on.”  
  
“Um, I’m thinking no,” Bruce replied firmly, tugging his shirt down over his stomach. “I have no idea what makes you think that it should.”  
  
To his surprise, Tony smiled at him; a bright, joyful, genuine smile. “I like it when you laugh Bruce. You always act like you’re not allowed to have any fun. I just want you to be happy.”  
  
Bruce felt a blush spread across his already-flushed-from-laughing cheeks and he busied himself with adjusting his glasses. “Thanks,” he muttered softly. It was easy to forget that behind Tony’s loud, egotistical, cavalier outer personality lay someone who truly noticed and looked out for the people he cared about. He had to admit that despite the torturousness of Tony’s tickling, he had enjoyed it at the same time. Aside from it being nice for someone, anyone, to touch him the way Tony did - carelessly, without any worry that a bump or a poke in the shoulder would cause him to explode into the Hulk - Bruce had to admit that it had been nice to just laugh. He hadn’t in such a long time.  
  
Tony did not reply other than to side-eye Bruce with a look that quite clearly said, ‘duh.’  
  
“Now, are you going to come look at my suit, or…” Tony trailed off, wriggling his fingers suggestively. Bruce instinctively wrapped an arm around his middle, causing Tony to grin triumphantly.  
  
“Sure,” Bruce’s lips quirked up in a small, amused smile. “Lead the way.”  
  
________________________________  
  
  
It wasn’t a week later when Bruce was running simulations of data collected from a particle accelerator; Tony’s personal particle accelerator to be exact. Tony had offered to buy Bruce his own particle accelerator when he came to work at the tower, and despite the ridiculous expense Tony hadn’t even batted an eyelash. Bruce supposed that a billionaire wouldn’t be too put out by spending millions on a piece of equipment that he wouldn’t even use. Nevertheless, Bruce had insisted on using what Tony already had. Not only was it completely unnecessary for Tony to spend that much money on a tool that would only be used by Bruce, the physicist was already very impressed with the particle accelerator Tony his built himself. Only Tony Stark could create such an incredible piece of equipment in his garage while he was dying.  
  
“Jarvis, how far along are we?”  
  
“The calculations are 85% complete, Doctor Banner,” the AI replied. “I estimate it should take no more than an hour, at the most. On an unrelated note, Sir is approaching with you with the intent of showing you what he has been working on.”  
  
A moment later the aforementioned Sir barged into the lab. “Bruce! You’ve gotta come see this.”  
  
“What is it now?” Bruce asked, an amused smile gracing his lips as he flicked quickly through the barrage of blue-tinted holographic screens in front of his face.  
  
Without warning a pair of hands were placed on either of Bruce’s sides, giving them a squeeze. Bruce jumped. “Ahahahaha, Tony! Whahahat was that for?”  
  
“I want you to come with me right now, Bruce,” Tony pouted, his voice bordering on the edge of a whine. “This moment! Immediately!”  
  
Bruce laughed. “It’s like you’re _five_ ,” he despaired, aware that his tone was a mixture of fondness and exasperation.  
  
________________________________  
  
  
It became a common occurrence. Whenever Tony was working on some new project that he wanted to show off, or ask Bruce’s opinion on, he would simply tickle the scientist until he traveled over to look at whatever Tony wanted him to look at. Tony always seemed happy to ‘convince’ Bruce by utilizing his “insane tickling skills” - as Tony would call them. It was clear that the billionaire really did enjoy tickling Bruce.  
  
For his own part, Bruce did not particularly mind being tickled.  
  
________________________________  
  
  
Whether it was fingers poking at his sides:  
  
“Nahahahahaha, Tohohohony! I was p-performing sehehensitive calculations!”  
  
“I spent all morning working on this code Bruce. All morning! You can’t resist admiring something that took me so much time and effort.”  
  
________________________________  
  
  
A device that Tony had created for the sole purpose of torturing Bruce:  
  
“AAAHahahahaha! Tony, whaahahahahat is thahat!?”  
  
“Like it? I made it just for you.”  
  
“Ihihihis it a tihihihihickle pehehehen?”  
  
“More or less. It creates an electric current that took me a little while to get right, I had to make sure it would be strong enough to be ticklish but weak enough not to be painful-“  
  
“Ihihihi don’t cahahahare! Gehehehehet it out ohohohof my behehehehelly buttohohohon!”  
  
________________________________  
  
  
Or a finger poking between the buttons of his shirt and wiggling inside his belly button:  
  
“Tohohony!”  
  
“Come check this out Brucey! Look, look, I fixed the toaster.”  
  
“Why is is painted rainbow? Wait, was the toaster broken?”  
  
“It wasn’t broken per say, but it definitely needed improvements. And what’s wrong with rainbow? See, you put in the toast - and voila! Aside from working faster than a regular, boring old toaster, this one makes-”  
  
“How did you get the toaster to burn hearts on the toast?”  
  
“I was going to explain that. Just some basic modifications-”  
  
“You made a gay pride toaster that burns hearts into pieces of bread.”  
  
“Well, it’s cool, ok?”  
  
“…”  
  
“I’m starting to think you’re inventing things for the sole purpose of allowing you plausible reasons to tickle me.”  
  
“What? Moi? I can’t believe you actually think I’d be that devious, big green. By the way, do you think I should mass market these?”  
  
________________________________  
  
  
“I’m coming, Tony. You don’t have to keep tickling me.”  
  
“But you’re so serious all the time Bruce! I like hearing you laugh.”  
  
________________________________  
  
  
Bruce blinked as a small - well, small for Tony Stark - explosion shook the lab. He pulled off his goggles and wandered over to where Tony had been working on… something. Bruce was unsure whether to be worried or amused. It seemed like he was feeling a little bit of both. “Tony?” he called. “Are you ok?”  
  
“I’m _fine_ ,” a muffled voice answered sharply. Bruce turned a corner to see Tony lying on the ground, Dummy spraying him copiously with a fire extinguisher. “Would you _stop that_ Dummy, I’m not even on fire!” Dummy slunk - well, robots couldn’t slink, so, maybe he rolled morosely? Bruce wasn’t quite sure what Dummy was doing, but it seemed like he was feeling slightly bad for attacking Tony with the fire extinguisher as he made his way over to the other slide of the lab, twittering softly.  
  
With a groan Tony sat up and glared at Bruce. “What are you doing here?” he grumbled.  
  
Bruce was definitely feeling amusement. “Seeing if you’re alright. Tony, what did you do this time?”  
  
“Nothing!” Tony snapped defensively. “It’s just… unstable… not my fault everything’s blowing up! Would you calm down?”  
  
“I am calm,” Bruce said slowly, sitting down on the ground next to his friend and lab partner. “Is there anything I can do?”  
  
“Not unless you can make the world stop sucking,” Tony groused. Though he was still glaring fiercely at the ground, his lips appeared to be slowly slipping into a pout. Bruce had to hold back a grin.  
  
“It looks like someone could use some cheering up,” Bruce observed. He scooted a little closer to Tony. The engineer looked up and his eyes widened, clearing realizing what Bruce was thinking of doing.  
  
“No, Bruce, don’t you _dare_ -ah! Nohohohoho, dohohohon’t!” Tony began to giggle as Bruce wriggled his fingers over the fabric of his tank top. “Stohohohohohop!” Tony squirmed around, the frantic movement helpfully pulling up his shirt to give Bruce access to the bare skin of his stomach.

"Wow, you’re even more ticklish than I am," Bruce noted happily. Indeed, just brushing his fingers over the bare skin of Tony’s stomach ended up sending the smaller man into fits of laughter.  
  
“Stohohohohohohohohohoho-” Tony squealed as Bruce ran a finger over his belly button. “Bruhuhuhuhuhuce, I’m gohohohohohoihihihing, gohohohohoing tohohohohohoho,” the billionaire gasped breathlessly through his helpless giggles, unable to get the words out.  
  
“Going to what Tony?” Bruce teased. “Laugh at me? I’m terrified.”  
  
Tony fell back onto the floor, overcome with giggles. “Gohohohohoihihihing tohohohohoh kihihihihihill y-yohohohohou,” he finally managed to say. He grabbed one of Bruce’s wrists and pulled it away from his stomach. Bruce continued to tickle Tony with his other hand, tickling side to side across Tony’s stomach and making sure to go back and tickle Tony’s outie every few seconds. Tony’s head was thrown back and his cheeks were flushed as he shook with laughter. “Stohohohohohohohohohohop!”  
  
“I don’t know,” Bruce said mock-thoughtfully as he rubbed Tony’s belly button. “What’s the magic word?”  
  
“Plehehehehehehehease!”  
  
Smiling, Bruce pulled his hand off of Tony’s stomach watched the other man sit up, gasping and covering his stomach with both arms wrapped around his middle. “You _monster_!” Tony accused. The involuntary smile spread across his face softened the insult, and Bruce laughed.  
  
“Don’t be a hypocrite,” he chastised. “It isn’t as though you haven’t done it to me enough. Feeling better?”  
  
Tony sighed in a false put-out manner. “I guess so.” He was grinning as he got to his feet, pulling Bruce up with him. Tony wrapped a friendly arm around Bruce’s shoulders and quickly poked him in the side. “Oops,” he said innocently in the face of Bruce’s raised eyebrow. “My hand slipped.”  
  
Bruce chuckled. “Sure it did. Want to try and fix that tech you were working on?”  
  
“You read my mind.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at url calmturquoise.


End file.
